At least 63 structures were demolished in the occupied Palestinian Territories (including East Jerusalem) by Israeli forces, during the month of November, displacing at least 42 people- including 19 children- and affecting a further 687 people, including 196 children. Inside Israel, in the Naqab desert, Israeli forces demolished the unrecognised Bedouin village al-Aragib for the 136th time.

All the demolitions and confiscations occurred on grounds of lacking an Israeli-issued building permit. Most of the demolished structures supported agricultural, herding and commercial livelihoods.

Full list of Demolitions:

l On 1 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished two structures in Ni’lin, Ramallah, affecting ten people from two households.

l On 5 November, 2018, Israeli forces delivered a demolition order for a Palestinian elementary school in Khalet ad-Dabe, located in the Masafer Yatta area in the South Hebron hills. The school provides an education for 12 students from nearby villages and was opened in October 2018.

l On 5 November, 2018, Israeli Civil Administration personnel came with two truck-mounted cranes and a military and Border Police escort to the village of Al Hadidiya, Tubas, Jordan Valley, dismantled and confiscated two shacks and three residential tents that were the home of a family of eight, including four children. They also dismantled the residential tent of another villager and a sheep pen. In October, 2018, Israeli security forces had demolished
these people’s homes, and the residents had rebuilt them.

l On 6 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished one structure in Silwan, East Jerusalem, affecting 11 people from two households.

l On 6 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished one structure in Sur Bahir, East Jerusalem, affecting five people from one household.

l On 6 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished a residential building in the al-Ashkariya neighbourhood in Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem, displacing 11 people from three households. According to the families, the Israeli forces prevented them from evacuating their personal belongings and furniture.

l On 7 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished a multi-purpose structure in Dhaher al Malih, Jenin, affecting 300 people from 50 households. The planned structure was supposed to be a medical center for women and children, kindergarten and a daycare centre.

l On 7 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished one structure in Anata, East Jerusalem, displacing 13 people from four households.

l On 7 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished a four-story building in the Shu’fat refugee camp, East Jerusalem. The building contained 12 apartments and a garage, and was partially inhabited by 12 people from two households, that were displaced due to the demolition. The owner of the building had received a demolition order eight months ago. He appealed the demolition order in court, and although a decision has yet to be given in the case, the building was demolished.

l On 8 November, 2018, Israeli Civil Administration personnel came with a tractor, a truck-mounted crane and a military jeep escort to the community of Khirbet Ibziq, near Tubas in the Jordan Valley, and demolished a tin shack that served as an office for the community’s primary school, affecting 27 people. The shack was donated to the school by the Tubas Council after the Civil Administration dismantled and confiscated last month
two caravans that had served as the offices of the staff and teachers of the school.

l On 8 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished three structures in Az Za’ayyem, East Jerusalem, affecting 34 people from four households.

l On 8 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished a memorial, built by local residents, in Abu Dis, East Jerusalem. The memorial was placed to commemorate Muhammad Lafi, a young Palestinian protester that was killed by the Israeli military in July 2017 during a demonstration against the occupation. The Israeli forces threatened the residents that they will be severely punished if they will rebuild the memorial, or place any others.

| On 12 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished a room that contained a kitchen and a bathroom, built on privately-owned farmland in Qusra, Nablus, affecting nine people from one household. The room and the facilities inside it served the family while they would work in their fields.

l On 15 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished one structure In Sur Bahir, East Jerusalem, affecting three people from one household.

l On 19 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished two structures In Qalandiya, East Jerusalem, displacing seven people from one household.

l On 19 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished and confiscated two structures In Silwan, East Jerusalem, affecting nine people from one household.

l On 19 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished two structures In Jabal al Mukabbir, East Jerusalem, affecting 11 people from two households.

l On 19 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished and confiscated one structure In Bardala, Tubas, Jordan Valley, displacing two people from one household.

l On 21 November, 2018, in the largest single demolition in Jerusalem in recent years, Israeli forces demolished 20 shops in the Shu’fat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem claiming they were all built without an Israeli building permit. The shops included a bakery, clothing shops, shoe shops and restaurants. The previous day, Israeli forces invaded the refugee camp and posted demolition orders in the evening hours on the shops’ doors. The camp itself, alongside another three Palestinian neighbourhoods that are located within the Jerusalem municipal boundary, have been surrounded by an 8-meter high concrete wall, cutting them off from the rest of the city. Access from the camp to Jerusalem is done through a police-controlled checkpoint.

l On 21 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished a house in the village of Duma, Nablus.

l On Thursday, 22 November 2018, Israeli forces demolished part of a Palestinian-owned building in the city of Lod, in central Israel. A few months ago, the Israeli authorities issued a demolition order against the whole building. The owner filed an appeal against the demolition order, but his appeal was rejected.

l On Thursday, 22 November 2018, Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian-owned family home, workshop, and a structure in the Bedouin town of Rahat, Naqab desert, Southern Israel.

l On Thursday, 22 November 2018, Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian-owned car wash in the Nabi Younis neighbourhood, Hebron. The owner of the demolished car-wash mentioned that the Israeli forces confiscated all the equipment from the car-wash prior to demolishing, and that they did not provide him with any reason for the demolition.

l On 22 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished a structure in Halhul, Hebron, affecting 11 people from two households.

l On 22 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished the entire unrecognised Bedouin village of al-Aragib in the Naqab desert, South Israel, for the 136th
time.

l On 22 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished five houses in Rahat, a governmental planned Bedouin township in the Naqab, South Israel.

l On 26 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian-owned house in the village of Imreiha, Jenin, displacing a family of five.

l On 27 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished two structures in Suba, Hebron, affecting five people from one household.

l On 27 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian-owned agricultural facility in the village of Jiftlik, Jericho.

l On 28 November, 2018, Israeli forces demolished a house in al-Abeidat neighbourhood in Jabal al Mukabbir, East Jerusalem, displacing a family of five. According to reports, the Israeli forces forced the owner, Mahran al-Mughrabi, together with wife and two children out of their 200-square-meter house at gun point, before the bulldozers demolished the house without allowing the family to remove their belongings from the house.

“Yesterday (November 21), the HCJ issued a ruling on the Batn Al Hawa, Silwan case (HCJ 7446/17) dismissing the principal Order Nisi petition that was submitted to challenge the General Custodian’s decision to release properties in Batn Al Hawa to the ‘Ateret Cohanim’ settler organization. The ruling allows Ateret Cohanim to continue with the evacuation of 700 Palestinian residents from the neighbourhood, notwithstanding the judges’ determination that the process by which the land was transferred to Ateret Cohanim was flawed.

Despite the flaws, the judges explained that they did not find grounds to intervene in the Custodian’s decision because “the difficulties are imbedded in the statutory arrangement and do not stem from the Custodian’s discretion.”

The judges left the factual questions as to the classification of the land for determination by the Magistrate court, adjudicating the evacuation cases”.

“On 15 November 2018, the Supreme Court issued a decision (CA 8093/16) dismissing the family’s possibility to contest Nahahalat Shimon’s ownership claim to the home they reside in, stating that the District Court ruling was well reasoned and based on profound facts that leave no room for Supreme Court intervention.

The ruling is likely to have severe implications for the residents of Sheikh Jarrah in general and for the pending eviction lawsuits in particular. Following the ruling, residents now have little, if any, means to challenge the ownership of the Nahalat Shimon Company.”

(updates provided by the Legal Task Force)

Tahadi 5 school, Beit Ta’mar

On 7 November, 2018, the “Regavim” settler organization filed a lawsuit in an Israeli court petitioning to demolish the Tahaddi 5 school, in the Beit Ta’mar area, east of Bethlehem.
The school has been subjected to demolition attempts over and over, and had previously been demolished on the first day of school, for the year 2016-2017.

A week later, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a verdict green-lighting the demolition of the school. In a clear violation of all laws and human rights principles, including the right to education and access to educational institutions, many Palestinian schools in Palestinian villages and Bedouin communities are attacked by Israeli soldiers and settlers.